BADOLBILZ

Tyreek is WAY more important to Miami than CMC is to SF. Deebo is the difference maker for SF not CMC.........when Deebo is out, they lose..........big RB production has always come easy for Shanahan regardless of who the RB was. Miami is toast without Tyreek.

This is nothing compared to Zerovoltz starting a thread talking about the Bills need worse receivers because the Chiefs won a SB without them(not realizing how important a do-everything-well receiver who caught nearly 80% of targets Juju Smith-Schuster was for them). You can always tell that someone has no clue about talent evaluation when part of their description of a player is "he can't be worse than" so-and-so. Common sense could tell you that Brown was better than Taylor. Common sense could tell you Smith was washed. In fairness, we had a lot of people claiming Sherfield and Sharty were big upgrades over what the Bills got rid of...........and as I said then.......the truth was always that Crowder and McKenzie clearly had been better NFL players in their careers. Sherfield and Harty weren't actually likely to be more productive players. Sure enough, Crowder and McKenzie put up 500 yards in 2022........and the Bills have only gotten 200 from Sherfield and Sharty.

Clemson, Miami and UNC will follow them out........they are just letting the state school pay the legal bill.

This season seems pretty much par for the course IMO. As oft noted they were 7-6 thru 13 games in 2021.........same kind of disappointing performance 3/4 of the way thru the regular season as this year. Last year the Jets and Vikings losses were the inexcusable blown games.........the Lions game was nearly a disastrous upset.......and the Bengals cancellation made a regular season with a strong record feel incomplete. Mid-season malaises are the way of this team ever since McD got here.........and strong Decembers have been the way since Allen broke out in 2020. If they finish the regular season 11-6 we will tend to forget how disappointing they were in the regular season just like the last two seasons.

There is the same narrative. I've heard it brought up numerous times on broadcasts that he has turned the ball over more than anyone since he entered the league.

LAC were like the 30th ranked pass defense. SOMETHING had to give.

Yeah that's the way it works. People forget the facts quickly. They forget that they struggled offensively down the stretch in 2021 versus feeble Atlanta and Carolina teams.........they just remember the two playoff games against NE and KC and the fact they were on a winning streak and think they just caught fire offensively and stayed hot. And last year they entered the Cinci playoff game on a 9 game hot streak where they averaged 30 points per game but all everyone remembers is how they got shut down versus Cinci. The disturbing trend is that they can't get a second play maker to step up. Last week it was just Cook. This week, just Gabe Davis. They lack a 1-2 punch and are rather winning 1 matchup each week.

Yeah Cook seems to be a bit of a dunce. Sharty had a rep as a fumbler in NOLA so it's been refreshing that he has been catching everything and not spilling it until now.

Yeah fumbles and drops galore now that he is getting more usage. I guess he was sick this week but if you are too sick to catch or hold onto the ball then stay on the porch.

About what? They just played one of the very worst defense's in the NFL and struggled mightily to get 24 points and you immediately post a complaint about criticism of the Bills playmakers?

That's good for them, their ownership is cheap enough without that excuse to use..........but the teams that are in that Bally's jam are in a terrible spot. Like the ACC member schools individually, other aspects of Bally's are doing great. But Bally's aren't going to rob Peter to pay Paul..........that's not even a consideration in modern business........and neither are the ACC schools going to continue to take far less for the product they are putting on the field.

No, Disney/ESPN just needs to re-negotiate their rights deal with the ACC.........or the conference will fall apart. Pretty sure the Orioles are caught up in the Bally's disaster with their Maryland regional sports network...........Bally's is going under and when they do they won't pay those teams the TV rights they owed them. Same situation except it's the ACC that is going to disband if they don't get a rights deal commensurate to Big Ten and SEC. It's business. If you don't understand it, grab a punchcard and watch the clock. 😉

Defense's have effectively separated the wheat from the chaff in the passing game this season. Phony WR2's like Gabe have gotten exposed. There has never been more WR talent in the NFL than there is now........but you have to be REALLY good to make plays when defense's are basically running the equivalent of hockey's neutral zone trap. The only reason you can't see that our playmakers aren't as good as KC last season is because you refuse to face the fact that Juju was excellent last year. 24th in receiving yards and 77% catch rate. A stud season from a guy who also once put up a 1400 yard season. The Bills don't have anywhere near that kind of player as a second option. The Chiefs also had dynamic impact from their RB's receiving........ 10 receiving TD's from McKinnon and Pacheco last season.......Cook has 4 with 3 games left. But LOS aligned receivers are more important to the equation. And fwiw, both Chiefs SB wins were capped off by plays by their WR2.......Sammy Watkins and Juju(who is open to extend and end the game if Bradberry doesn't grab him).

So as far as you could see.........having NOT EVEN LOOKED.......the idea that the Bills want to limit Allen's rushes until later in the season/playoffs is "completely unsupported, speculation"? You do realize how ridiculous that statement is right? You basically said you have zero clue if it's right......but it's bullish!t! Go back to page 7 and read @GunnerBill post...........each year since his breakout Allen has run a lot more at the back end of seasons. You should know this from the eyeball test alone being a Bills fan. They always endeavor to keep him in the pocket early in the season......even at the expense of keeping games closer than they should be. They've used the same formula to turn their fortunes around in 2021 when they were in a very similar spot with a 7-6 record. The Denver loss was a less shocking but equally painful equivalent of the 9-6 loss in Jacksonville in 2021.

Again, with regard to Cook being the Bills top or second option........I don't believe the quality of a RB makes a difference in reaching or winning a SB. SF got great RB production from everybody they have used under Shanahan. They can reach the SB if McCaffrey goes down. No problem. They can't if Deebo goes down and probably won't if Aiyuk goes down. You are wrong about the Bills TE's being good. Knox has been terrible in the passing game this season. By every metric. We can cite the injury for his drop-off but it's about what he and Kincaid are now...........not what they could be. And at his best all Knox was still not close to top tier TE who you'd want as a top 2 option. What he's getting paid has nothing to do with it.........that contract looks long-term bad right now. With his lost season combined with Kincaid's toothless production the Bills have NOT had a good TE game.........let alone a TE who has been an elite second option. And yeah Knox makes an occasional highlight play but so does Gabe and so do Justin Watson and MVS for the Chiefs.........the problem is they aren't good enough second options. You saw how impactful Gabe and Knox were when they needed them to step up in the Cinci playoff game last year. They aren't NEARLY good enough to consistently step up against the style of defense opponents are playing good passing games with right now. 2023 has been the year of the playmaker. If a non-QB is going to win MVP ever again, it's this season. Teams with multiple stud receiving targets(of the non-RB variety) are making teams like SF and Philly SB favorites and keeping flawed teams like Cinci, Miami, Seattle, Houston and Jacksonville in contention. Teams like Dallas and Baltimore don't have stud WR2's but they have a better top 3 of pass catchers.......though losing Andrews means Baltimore really needs the #1 seed, IMO. The Bills and Chiefs are fighting against that current this season.

ACC wants $560M for them to be able to leave the ACC. That's why they don't just pay the fee. That's like the last 15 years of Orioles payrolls.

The "Gabe is a very good WR2, I don't know what you're talking about!" crowd has officially eliminated Gabe from their vocabulary. Everybody is off that wagon, finally.........or if not they are in deep lurk mode. Now they are now resorting to "well who did the Rams or Patriots have?".............when we already went thru who all of these teams had in the Gabe debate. Which proves they were never listening to the facts of the argument in the first place. If you guys want to learn a bit about the impact of receivers I suggest you follow this site: https://receptionperception.com

MVP of the SB. Did you even watch that SB? How many times did talking heads bring up that it was too bad that he got hurt because he was on track to be the MVP of their SB win? He was having a great game and I'm convinced you didn't even watch it. After he went down their offense stalled and allowed the Bengals to get back in it and make it a game. Next thing you are going to tell me the Bengals didn't have good weapons.

So in addition to Moss and later Gronk you don't think Welker and Edelman were big time weapons for NE? 11 out of 12 years from 2007 on their slot receiver averaged somewhere between 67 and 98 yards per game! Eight 1,000 yard plus seasons. Studs. Fact. Right in our own division. Were you following the Bills or not? Some of you really don't follow football close enough to even be discussing these topics. Go back to the kids table @Thurman#1

TE can be a WR2 equivalent if they are really outstanding receivers. How does including a TE who averages 15 yards per catch and has a 65% catch rate and 60+ yards per game like Gronk negate the argument? Kelce was great in all 3 of the Chiefs SB years and Tyreek and Watkins were the 2nd and 3rd options in 2 of those SB appearances. And last year Juju was a do-everything-well second option at WR who put up WR1 bulk stats(24th in yards receiving) and provided Mahomes a crazy efficient near 80% catch rate passing game weapon. It would be incredible if the Bills had someone like that opposite Diggs this season. In fact compare his efficiency numbers last year to Diggs stats this year. Better ypc, success%, catch rate, YAC, yards per target.......he was legit VERY good last year. The Bills TE's haven't been dangerous. Knox has had a truly terrible season. His biggest impacts were two crucial 4th down drops........one that nearly lead directly to a loss against the NYG.......and one that greatly contributed to defeat in NE. Before that he has always been an inconsistent passing game weapon just like Gabe. Kincaid has show more promise but he has a pathetic 8.1 yards per reception and 6.7 yards per target. He's been toothless to this point. Maybe this year is the exception when you don't need a stud 2nd receiving option? Maybe this year playoff defense's don't shut down offense's that rely so heavily on RB's like this year's Bills and Chiefs? That's why top ranked, must-feed RB's don't win SB's.......but again, maybe this year is finally the exception? There are a lot of maybe's but my point is that the known quantities that the Bills have as weapons are not on par with what has been getting teams to SB's.

Very right about: - MLB being an easy fill.......never worried about it. - WR position being a big weakness (and Sharty and Sherfield not being impactful after worse careers than Crowder and McKenzie whom they replaced) - Kincaid being good for a rookie but also not real impactful - Offensive line being much better than expected Very wrong about: - Ed Oliver stepping up his game significantly........I doubted it - The opinion that Von Miller would be ready early in the season and play well this year. He had a setback in August but even if he came back on the early timeline he'd have sucked for the first 3 months based on how unimpactful he's been. - I was specifically quite confident that Allen wouldn't repeat his mistake prone 2022 performance in the Meadowlands..........but he did and then some.

Those kids Christmas almost got Munsoned

Yeah I will believe a RB is the difference when it happens again. As I said in another response, run defense is all about effort and technique. So defense's can easily elevate that aspect of their game in the playoffs.......and often do. Think about the 2017 Bills defense in the WC game in Jacksonville. That was a team that had given up a franchise record of rushing yards over a 3 game span earlier that season. They were STOUT in that playoff game. This reality has long spelled doom for run-centric teams in the playoffs.

OBJ was huge for the Rams in their SB run and was on pace to be the MVP for the Rams in that SB. They held on after he got injured. But they don't get there without him stepping up........including the 9-11 for 113 versus the Niners in that closely contested NFCCG. The quality of a teams WR2 has been a huge indicator for teams reaching the SB the last 6 seasons. The quality of individual RB has been inconsequential for the most part. For decades now. And that's because run defense is about effort and technique and defense's tend to raise the levels of those things in playoff games.

The Chiefs were MORE of "that" last season though. And they had a short road to the SB(the only one of the past 4 years that they didn't reach the SB was the year they didn't have a bye). The Bills don't have a second boundary receiver who can run a full route tree, create RAC, catch a contested throw or AT LEAST draw the occasional PI penalty. Juju could do all of those things for the Chiefs..........which then made MVS more effective and so forth.